Fadnavis, Meghwal review progress in NSEL scam probe

Mumbai, Nov 15 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal today reviewed the progress made by multiple agencies in the NSEL scam at a meeting here.

The meeting was attended by officials of Union Finance Ministry, Mumbai Police, CBI, SEBI and other departments concerned, who provided update on actions taken by various authorities in the multi-crore scam which came to light in July 2013.

Fadnavis directed them to appoint a special officer to speed up probe, attach properties of offenders and ensure return of money to investors, said an official in the Chief Ministers Office (CMO).

So far, a sum of Rs 527.19 crore has been returned to investors. Small investors have got 100 per cent of their money, while the medium ones received 50 per cent, he said.

Fadnavis and Meghwal directed the officials to fast track probe, attachment of properties and complete other legal processes so that people get back their money at the earliest, he added.

The nearly Rs 5,600-crore payment and settlement crisis at the now defunct National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) was uncovered over three years ago and since then the matter has come under the scanner of multiple State and Central agencies.

NSELs payment troubles started after it was ordered by regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) to suspend spot trade in most of its contracts due to suspected trading violations.

The exchange could not settle the outstanding trades, sparking investigations by the police and regulators to find out whether the bourse had defrauded traders by not enforcing rules requiring sufficient collateral to be set aside.

Financial Technologies India Ltd, the promoter of the commodity bourse, blamed NSEL executives and the trading parties for the default. There were 24 members who defaulted payment to about 13,000 investors. PTI MR RSY UZM

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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